Obama Goes ‘Full Italian’ With an Open-Necked Shirt and Sunglasses

The buttons on a man’s shirt say a lot about his stress level. Up to the neck, and you know he’s drowning in dread. One open and he’s able to breathe. Two or more unbuttoned? He’s straight chillin’. Can you guess how many former President Barack Obama has unbuttoned these days?

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Photo: AP Images

Take a look at what he wore to the Seeds & Chips Global Food Innovation Summit in Milan on Tuesday. The top three buttons (at least) on his blue-and-white seersucker button-down were open.

This is an unexpected look from the man who used to sit in the Oval Office. However, after his last few weeks of vacation, and the outfits he wore during it (including a leather jacket), it’s not that surprising.

He apparently has stocked up on a whole new wardrobe and needs a place to put his fresh duds. “I have been fighting Michelle to get more closet space,” he said of his post-White House life. He’s also been trying to figure out how the coffee machine works.

And while he seems to miss the on-demand caffeine, he admits that the security concerns that surrounded him as POTUS aren’t on the list of things he’s longing for about his old life. “Now I’m only captive to selfies. Which is almost as bad,” he joked. “I can walk anywhere as long as I’m willing to take a selfie every two steps.”

However, the environment is no laughing matter to Obama. “During the course of my presidency, I made climate change a top priority because I believe that of all the challenges that we face, this is the one that will define the contours of this century, more dramatically perhaps than any other,” he said.

“We have been able to bring our emissions down even as we grow our economy. The same is true in many parts of Europe,” he said of one of his many in-office accomplishments. But he admits that that alone is not going to fix our problem. “Here’s the thing: Even if every country somehow puts the brakes on the emissions that exist today, climate change would still have an impact on our world for years to come.”

He of course addressed President Trump’s position on climate change. “The current administration has differences with my administration in terms of energy policy, and that’s part of what happens in democracy. So there will be useful debate that takes place in America,” Obama said. Trump is considering pulling out of the Paris Agreement, which was reached under Obama’s presidency and ensures that world leaders will monitor climate change.

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Photo: AP Images

Just the day before, Obama looked as if he were stepping off the set of a Dolce & Gabbana photo shoot, wearing a sleek black suit with a crisp white button-down shirt and his Oliver Peoples sunglasses, which he’s been rocking since January 2016.